The Merrymen

The Merrymen (English for " The Merry Men", also Emile Straker & the Merrymen, The Merrymen and spelling ) are a calypso band from Barbados, the end of the 1960s in Europe, particularly through their recording of " Big Bamboo ", a number - two hit was known in the Netherlands.

History

The Merrymen founded in 1962 in Barbados and first played in schools and in a restaurant in Saint Lawrence Gap, an area known for its restaurants, bars and dance clubs place on the south coast of the island. After successes self-produced records on their home and other Caribbean islands - including the traditional " Big Bamboo ", which was published in 1966 also by the Jamaican label WIRL - they arrived in the mid -1960s to Britain, where they during the summer season in the seaside resort of Blackpool as a live band occurred and received a recording contract with EMI. 1969 in the Netherlands " Big Bamboo " at a summer hit and spent 19 weeks on the charts with the second rank as the highest placement. The single " Soul Calypso " reached a year later also the Dutch Top 20, The Merrymen finally returned to Barbados, where they made ​​themselves particularly strong for tourism - even with their music, especially the song Beautiful Barbados and the eponymous album of the year, 2004.

" We wrote a lot of music itself, which has become a part of traditional folk music of the island. In many hotels the tourists want to hear our music, because it is traditional Caribbean calypso music. "

Members

Founding members

  • Robin Hunte - Guitar and Mandolin
  • Stephen Fields - guitar and vocals
  • Emile Straker - Lead vocals, guitar and steel pan

Other members of

  • Chris Gibbs - Bass Guitar
  • Robert Foster - Conga and Percussion
Traditional music
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